Drake Maye Received Super Bowl Advice From Former Patriots Rival

An old New England Patriots nemesis gave Drake Maye pointers on preparing for his first Super Bowl.

Maye said earlier this week on SiriusXM NFL Radio that Peyton Manning reached out to him as the Patriots get ready for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Manning, who made three of his four Super Bowl appearances after defeating New England for the AFC title, told the 23-year-old to maintain a routine during an atypical week at Santa Clara.

“One of the first things he said was, ‘Keep the schedule the same. It’s going to be hard,'” Maye recalled.

Manning concluded his Hall of Fame career by leading the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl 50 win over the Carolina Panthers in 2016. Maye, who grew up a Panthers fan, attended the game in the same stadium where he’ll play this Sunday.

“It’s not bad,” Maye said of getting advice from Manning. “It’s not too bad. It’s really full circle because I was at this game ten years ago when Peyton won it against the Panthers. I was here. My dad brought me. So it’s a pretty cool moment to kind of get to know these guys that I looked up to, and great players and great throwers of the football.

“It’s pretty special that now they’re reaching out to me and taking their time out of their day to try to help me try to go win the big one. So it means the world.”

Maye can become the second quarterback alongside Manning to defeat the NFL’s top-three scoring defenses in the same postseason. He’ll first look to put some of Manning’s tips into practice before Super Bowl LX kicks off this Sunday at 6:30 p.m ET on NBC.